Once again, by the special grace of the Almighty God, we shall be celebrating Christmas and the coming New Year. For all the Christian Churches in the world over, it will be a period for thanksgiving, lavish charity and demonstration of benevolence from the hearts of those who are kind in mind.
Unfortunately, due to unrelenting thirst among some so called Shepherds, it will be the time for them to deceive, cheat and even dip their hands into the church offers to take things that do not belong to them. Many of them these days, particularly among the greedy ones, they have come to perfect the art of hoodwinking their congregations in order to get more and more from them. With no exception, the majority of the Clergymen today in various churches have sharpened their hands and throats. Churches are no longer for the winning of souls but for the elucidation of alms, gift and other edible and non-edible materials from church members who have and those who don’t have. In every service, members of the congregation would have come and thank God for helping them see the end of the year.
Of course, they would be happy and delighted to thank God Almighty for His Grace. Smiles on their faces, they would gladly give, give and give. They may be thinking that they are donating for the God’s work. They are wrong. They are donating to make the Priests incharge to be more comfortable and to live extravagant life styles.
Today, many Clergymen, among the orthodox churches and more of the penticostal churches are in the habit of driving expensive vehicles and building bungalows of different sizes and expansion in their families. Yet, ask me, what is their salary? They would ask members of the congregations to come and thank God for newly born babies in their families, for those who got job this year; for those who passed exams this year; for those who made profits in their marketing services; for those whose names is ‘Sunday’; for those whose birthday falls within the festive period and of course for those who receive any type of happy moments. Above all, it is the harvest period when members bring items of various prices and definitions to be sold to advance the cause of Christianity. But, the Clergyman or the Priest incharge would first of all, those that he wants from those items, not for his own use but to be resold through the connivance of the Church or Pastors Warden, Mass-servant or even a sexton of the Church. This amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul.
Time has gone when going to church service gave one happiness, comfort and fulfilled. Today, once a Priest or an invited preacher mounts the pulpit, after the first Biblical quotations and few references, the topic would be diverted to nothing but mundane issues of money, charity, donation for this, that and for inconceivable and intangible things. Why have we thrown over board the core values of Christianity instead promoting the core values of mundane and material issues? That is why most of the Churches are loosing members for other Churches, only to get there to find out that it is the same practice. Some self appointed Bishops of some penticostal churches are now competing among themselves as to who should erect the most magnificent edifice. They and pastors are competing as to who should ride the most expensive vehicle. Yet most of their members could not even afford to pay transportation to the church service via Keke or Okada. But these apostolic and clerical merchants don’t care. Because, today, ownership of a church, Ministry or a Chapel is a ready-made source of fast money and income. This, today can transform even a pauper from abject poverty to affluence overnight in the name of “having been called by God to serve.” To serve who? Painfully, some Bishops of the Orthodox Churches do nothing to cut down on the excesses of their so called Priests, Pastors and Reverend “un-gentlemen.”
Many people have started to wonder why top authorities in most of the denominations have failed to control their field of officers. Could it be that something like, “return system” has crept into the church that is why people leave church services today mostly embittered and sad because of the Priest’s over-emphasis on money, money and money; donation, donation and donation. Can this be allowed to continue unabated? In fact, sooner than later, there would be more churches and praying houses than members to attend. No wonder those involved in the sale of musical instruments and white materials are the only people smiling regularly inspite of the hardship prevalent in the society. It is clear that at the end of January, a good number of goats, sheep and fowls would be waiting for sales in the backyard of every Priest or Pastor, no matter the size of his Church. Some big and “lucrative Churches” at the end of the year do everything to ensure that they are not transferred out of their lucrative stations. In this regard, they would begin to lobby top Church Members who can reach the highest authorities to ensure that they are favoured during location exercises.
Sometimes, they may do the lobbying direct by working through the Bishop’s wives or even through Senior Clergymen who are the favourites of the Bishops.
Unfortunately, Priests in various stations are too much concerned with donations that they have honestly lost the very basic norms of the Christian faith. Many believe that we are approaching end time as indicated in the Holy Bible “when persons in different garments would emerge preaching the words of God but actually preaching the words of Satan.”
As things stand today in our churches, true Christians are worried and worried. Time has come for the government at all levels to check the excesses of many churches particularly those who are constantly mounting crusade and night vigils. Sometimes what happens in these places makes many to wonder of the actual evangelical competence and honesty of those so-called “Chosens.”
Whether we believe it or not, harvest time which is used to come and give thanks to God for successful farming season and for keeping us alive has become a season for the utmost exploitation by people often described as “Clerical Merchants.” These are those who are making the church loose its sacrosanct and high reverence. Is this how it should be?
